title: Eukaryote polyphosphate kinases: is the 'Kornberg' complex ubiquitous?
abstract: Polyphosphate (poly P) is a polymer of up to several hundred phosphate residues and is important to a variety of cell processes. The main poly P synthetic enzyme in many bacteria is poly P kinase 1 (PPK1), which until recently had been detected among eukaryotes in some protists only. There is now evidence for the presence in several other eukaryotes of PPK1 homologues and also a second bacteria-type enzyme, PPK2. The latest genome databases reveal that the 'Kornberg' enzyme complex of three actin-related proteins, termed DdPPK2 in Dictyostelium discoideum, might also be ubiquitous in eukaryotes. Owing to the intimate association of poly P synthesis with the formation of structural fibres, this ubiquity indicates a central role for this molecule in the evolution of eukaryotic cells.
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, Wulfruna Street, University of Wolverhampton, UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hooley
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Whitehead
authors.forename: Michael R W
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology; D019295:Computational Biology; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000201:enzymology; D015195:Drug Design; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017856:Phosphotransferases (Phosphate Group Acceptor) / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011122:Polyphosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D011122:Polyphosphates; D017856:Phosphotransferases (Phosphate Group Acceptor); C022424:polyphosphate kinase